Petersburg: indeed here, as in Munich, the government
makes that liberal provision which only governments can make, for
noble but unremunerative art. The great dome is said to be sustained
by iron; indeed the science of construction brought to bear is great,
yet again it must be acknowledged that whether the material be
iron, bronze, or stone, the art, the skill, and even the commercial
capital, are not Russian but foreign, and often English. Russian
workmen, however, are employed as mechanics or machines, partly
because in copyism and mechanism Russian artisans cannot throughout
Europe be surpassed. When I got to St. Petersburg I could scarcely
believe the statement to be true that the "English Magazine" and
not any Russian factory had executed the eight stupendous malachite
pillars within the church, weighing about 34,000 pounds and costing
L2,500 sterling. Yet while the organization might be English, the
operatives were Russians. The unsurpassed malachite pillars combine
in the grand altar-screen with columns of lapis-lazuli: the latter
are said to have cost per pair L12,000 sterling.
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